DDCA League for women, increase in club subsidy announced

The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has announced an increase in subsidy for the clubs and the introduction of a woman’s league from this year.

The announcement was made by the DDCA President Rohan Jaitley at the inauguration of the DDCA League 2024-25 at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground of the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday morning.

It should be noted that the DDCA had this year hosted the inaugural edition of the Delhi Premier League (DPL) which included both the men’s and women’s competitions.

“Club cricket has been going on for decades. This time we have initiated the women’s league to include women in club cricket. These steps (introduction of women’s cricket and increase in subsidy) are not just opportunity to give a boost to women’s cricket in the city, but also ensure that clubs play a positive role and create infrastructure with the subsidy we are giving,” said Jaitley to www.thedelhijunction.com in an interview on the sidelines of the inauguration.

Rohan Jaitley addresses a gathering at the 2024-25 DDCA League launch

The DDCA used to give a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh to each club every year which got increased to Rs 2 lakh and now has been increased to Rs 2.5 lakh.

“We are offering additional subsidy. Earlier, Rs 1 lakh (per club per year) was the subsidy for the clubs. Last year we increased it to Rs 2 lakh. Now we have pushed it to Rs 2.5 lakh.”

In addition to this, the Association will also give a one-time amount to set up infrastructure besides extra money for clubs fielding teams in women’s league.

“We have also now come up with a scheme where a one-time additional subsidy of Rs 2.5 lakh is being given to clubs to set up good cricketing infrastructure. The clubs that participate in the women’s competition are given an additional Rs 1 lakh in subsidy."

The clubs have been invited to put in their teams for DDCA League. 

“You (each club) will now have Rs 6 lakh up for grabs. Rs 2.5 lakh for men’s league, Rs 1 lakh for women’s league, and one-time Rs 2.5 lakh for infrastructure,” he added. 

Members of the League Committee with the DDCA President Jaitley

“We want to see that the clubs in Delhi are the focal point of making sure that a healthy grassroot ecosystem is run by them… when we are giving a subsidy, it is our endeavour to [ensure the clubs] run 12-month facilities with infrastructure where quality coaching is done.”

Jaitley reiterated his pre-election promise of setting up High Performance Centres (HPC). There were already a couple of High-Performance groups over the last couple of years, in Bharat Nagar and Pitampura.

“We have also initiated the process of setting up of High-Performance Centres.”

It should be noted that a member Gurpreet Sareen, also an owner of a club, had last year asked the Association to raise the subsidy to Rs 5 lakh last year.

Tags : DDCA League, Rohan Jaitley, Delhi Cricket, women's cricket, Arun Jaitley Stadium, Ferozeshah Kotla